Bloodlines Chronicles
by Bloodlines DMC
Summary: This is a book chronicling several events that take place up to the events in the Bloodlines Anthology. Read the author's note in the first chapter for more information. Non-Linear, Adult Themes, Violence, Language, Sexual Themes, PLEASE R&R XD!
1. Twining Twins

_Author's Note: This is a book of events that happened leading up to the events in The Bloodlines Anthology, not only a collection of things we believe could have happened to the canon characters of the Devil May Cry series, but also the things that, of course, happened to our OCs in the past._

_This book will eventually chronicle events not only surrounding Dante and Vergil in their childhoods, but also Cecilia Chase and Sparda, as well as the other major characters. Each chapter is set up to be a short story in itself, some of the chapters will focus on several event spanning over a few years, some will focus more on one or two at a time._

_Also, this book is non linear, so the events do not take place in chronological order. We decided to do this so that we could update this book whenever we wanted to so that it wouldn't spoil events in the main series of Bloodlines. We hope you like it!_

_Disclaimer: All original characters belong to __**GieGie**__ and __**Kazeninoru**__. All canon characters to the Devil May Cry Series are © __**Capcom**__ - __.com__ - All Rights Reserved by the big guys! ^^_

_Chapter 1 - Twining Twins_

She carried the three year old boy as she pulled the blanket over his sleeping twin, thumb shoved into his mouth, bear tucked under his arm. The twin she carried in her arms was stubbornly fighting sleep, and though he kept reaching up and rubbing his eyes, trying to stay awake, he was swiftly losing that battle.

Eva decided that if he was going to fight his sleep off, she was going to have to sit down with him for a while. So she went to sit down once her other son was tucked into his bed, the chair in the den down the hallway being the closest one, leaving the door cracked incase her newly sleeping son decided to wake back up and come to find her, wondering where she was. Sometimes he did that, though not always, and she only hoped he stayed fast asleep this time.

Sitting in the chair, she rocked a bit, and tilted her head, watching the son she carried rubbing his eyes again and then opening the icy blue hues and looking up at her. She gave him a little smile and shook her head. "Why don't you want to go to sleep?"

He stared at her, then glanced down at the floor and opened his mouth in a big yawn. As cute as he looked, Eva tried not to smile over it, and instead, remained concerned looking. Finally, the little boy told her, "They come at night."

His voice had been a mere whisper, and Eva almost couldn't hear him. But she figured out what he'd said after a moment of thought on it, and she narrowed her brows in question, "Who'll come at night?"

"Monsters," he replied, putting a slight 'w' sound into the word with his three year old vocabulary.

"Aww, there's no monsters, why do you think that?"

The three year old fell into a quiet silence as if he didn't want to allude to what he was telling her. Then he finally informed her of one simple line.

"Monsters got Daddy at night."

Eva's face grew solemn. She didn't know what to think about what her son had just said. He was only three years old, and she could only imagine where he'd heard such a tale from, who in the world had told him that? Turning him in her lap, Eva held him directly before her, and she shook her head, "No Vergil, monsters didn't get your daddy at night."

Vergil stared up at his mother questioningly, almost looked a bit disbelieving. Then he asked her, "Where's he?"

Eva frowned at the little boy, taking a slow breath as she parted her lips, "Daddy fell asleep. He'll be asleep for a very long time." She only hoped that telling her oldest twin that would placate him, as sometimes he didn't like to believe her right off the bat for reasons she couldn't understand. But she'd told the truth, wouldn't lie to him, and eventually he came around to believing her, but sometimes it took a little convincing.

"Why?" Came the curious three year old's question.

Eva finally smiled just a little, then she leaned her head forward and told him, "So the monsters _wouldn't_ get you, Vergil. He loved you and Dante. So he had to sleep."

Eva was grateful. The little boy seemed to accept her story right off of the bat, the look on his face growing much less suspicious and curious. At that moment, he yawned again, and started rubbing his eyes some more. Though this time he'd left them shut once he'd finished, and Eva pulled him against her to help him to go to sleep. "Where did you hear monsters got daddy at? Who lied?"

Vergil didn't reply. Tilting her head to look down at his face, she felt his arm going limp against hers, and she knew he'd fallen asleep. With a sigh, she decided to let it go for now, leaned in and kissed his forehead. Eva then pushed herself up and went to take Vergil to his bedroom. As she opened the door quietly, carrying the limp child who'd stayed up far too long, she gently put him onto his bed and pulled the covers up over him. Brushing some of his hair back from his face, she turned around to the bed just across from her, and saw Dante's bear on the floor. So she picked it back up and placed it in his arm again, pulling the hanging limb from the side of the bed and curling it around the bear.

She smirked as Dante hugged it and rolled just slightly more onto his side, shoving his thumb back into his mouth again. Following the movements, she bent down and picked up some toys from around his bed, shoving them beneath it so that Dante wouldn't wake up in the morning and trip over them as he'd done a time or two before.

Eva left the room, shutting the door to close out the light, and she went down the hallway, into her room, leaving her own door open incase something came up and she had to get to her children, or they had to come to her. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she stared at the empty mattress and sighed. It'd been only a few weeks now that one of the twins hadn't fallen asleep with her, and she rather liked it when they did, it made her feel less lonely at night. But she knew they couldn't be with her forever, so this change was good, and she only hoped morning came pretty soon.

When the morning sun did finally illuminate the bed, Dante was curled up beside his mother, and Vergil lay sprawled out behind her across the top of the sheets. Sometime during the middle of the night, Dante had woken up and found Vergil sitting in his bed, staring out of the window, and when Vergil saw him sitting up, they shared a glance. The distant call of a wolf sounded as they peered at each other. Without question, the twins suddenly got up and ran from their room and down the hallway to their mothers room. Eva had been asleep, barely waking up when her children had come to her, but she pulled them under the blankets as they did so and started snoozing once again when they'd settled down.

In the morning light, Eva opened her eyes to see them, one curled up against her, the other spread everywhere, and she grinned, only able to tell them apart by the differing pajama's they wore. Dante was next to her. She chuckled at them and looked back at the clock, it was nearly eight. So she started shaking Dante's shoulder. "Honey, wake up."

Dante swatted at his face and Eva started snickering more, deciding to let them both sleep while she went to take a bath. It was Saturday after all, so once they _did_ wake up, they'd both be hard to handle, running around like they liked to do. So she'd take her peace and quiet when and where she could get it.

Once she was out of the tub, Vergil had woken up, sitting on the edge of the bed swinging his legs back and forth and watching the shadows they made on the floor. Vergil looked up when her shadows mixed with his, and he asked, "Can I go outside?"

"Yes, but only if you take Dante out with you, and only in the backyard." She figured that would give Vergil incentive to get Dante up since it was closer to nine now, and he really needed to get up out of bed, otherwise he'd be hard to put back down later, as well as get the two to get out of the house instead of breaking something inside playing. Plus she needed to go make them breakfast and being outside would keep them out of the kitchen until the food was done.

Vergil rolled over and crawled onto the bed, literally got on top of Dante, and grabbed his shoulders, "Wake up, Dante." He started shaking his younger brother.

Dante muttered and finally opened his eyes. Then he groaned and called out, "Mama, Vergil won't stop shaking me!"

"Dante!," Vergil said more loudly this time, "get up!"

"Mama!"

"Dante!"

"Mama!"

Eva sighed, then she went over and said, "Dante, get up, I told him to wake you."

Dante groaned and, still being shaken by Vergil, he finally opened his eyes all of the way. Once that happened, Vergil stopped shaking him and crawled off of him. Dante turned and sat up on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes and ruffling his already messy white hair. Vergil had already left the room, and Eva called out to him, "I'm going to call you back in for breakfast!"

"Okay," she heard as he disappeared into his room, the two children being closer to four years old, and Vergil was more than likely going to try to dress himself. He did that from time to time recently, and Eva shook her head, knowing he'd come out in a yellow and orange shirt with a pair of blue pants that didn't match. But, at least he tried, she thought with a smirk, besides, if he was going outside, he'd probably play, and while he never got as messy as Dante did, he was still a child, and it would give her an excuse to make him change his clothing later.

Walking over to the bed, she leaned down and lifted Dante up, asking him, "Are you going to help me with breakfast or do you wanna go outside?" Since he seemed so sleepy, she knew it'd be a few minutes before he really got himself going enough to play with his brother.

Dante grumbled again about being awake in response, and she just chuckled and took him to the kitchen with her, knowing that, especially since it was Saturday, he wouldn't be putting his clothing on any time soon. Once in the kitchen, she set him down, and he turned and ran back into the hallway, opening the bathroom door, and then just left it open. A moment later she heard the sound of his potty training at work, and she put her hand on her forehead. "Dante, shut the door when you go potty!" She was trying her best not to laugh and make Dante think it was okay to just leave the door wide open when he went to pee.

Vergil had come running out at that time, surely enough wearing mismatched clothing, and he stopped suddenly at the bathroom door and got a distasteful look on his face, saying loudly, "Ew!" From there, he ran away toward the backdoor, leaving Dante yelling, "Go away!," behind him, and leaving Eva trying her best not to simply laugh herself silly, but she was losing that battle terribly, tears in her blue eyes.

Only a moment later, after the toilet had flushed, Dante came back out and said, "Mama! He looked at my butt!"

Eva, who'd been trying to put some freshly cooked bacon onto the tray, suddenly started laughing again, and then she told Dante, "Well that's why you need to shut the door."

Dante grumbled, then asked, "Where's he!?"

"Outside in the backyard, Dante!" She called as he ran off, "Put some clothes on for the love of...," she trailed off and sighed as the door shut, then peered out of the kitchen window at the both of them, close enough for her to reach if she needed to. Dante went running straight for his brother and smacked his arm, yelling, "Tag!," before turning to run away.

Sighing, Eva shook her head, and continued cooking breakfast, catching random glimpses of them from time to time, and she finally called them into the house. When they came running back, she stopped them at the kitchen door and shook her head, pointing at the bathroom. "I've got some clothes in there for you, go change and wash your hands."

Vergil sighed, but he trudged off dejectedly, and Dante grumbled, "Mama, I don't wanna!"

Eva knew he'd say that, so she reached down and took his hand, taking him into the bathroom where she started changing him. Vergil got his shirt off as Eva pulled off Dante's, and he pulled the chair from beneath the sink and crawled up into it, then onto the sinks counter, reaching out and turning the water on. Looking back, Eva shook her head, "I could've done that for you, Vergil."

"I do it," he insisted, using the lotion to try and wash his hands. Eva reached out and stopped him, then pointed at the hand soap, and he grabbed that one instead, then proceeded to take care of himself. He watched Eva lifting Dante once his shirt and pants were changed, and put him onto the other side of the sink, telling him to, "Go ahead."

Dante looked at his hands, then up at his mother, and he held them up, "They're not dirty!"

"Yes they are!" Vergil told him.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

Eva stopped the arguing boys before they could go on much further by raising her hands, "Dante, Vergil." She spoke sternly. "Stop it. Wash your hands, Dante. Vergil, where did you put your clothes?"

Vergil, who was drying his hands with tissues, pointed at them, and Eva reached to the floor and took them, putting them into the hamper, followed by grabbing him from the counter and putting him onto the floor, "Go to the table, and wait for us."

"Okay," Vergil replied again, and when Dante finished his own task, Eva pulled him off of the counter as well and walked into the kitchen, wondering if their arguing was going to get worse or better. But at least they were well behaved when it came to listening to their mother, she thought to herself. Otherwise she might pull her hair out over how they seemed to want to argue over _everything_.

Bath time came and it was no different. The only rubber ducky they had was named Chester, Eva swore she couldn't remember which boy had named it that, but they always fought over it since the other one had gotten lost. Vergil had also picked up the habit of sometimes not wanting to bathe with his brother, which in turn made Dante ask Eva why, and Eva knew Vergil was just trying to be a big boy. Even still, Eva never let Vergil bathe without her around, so his attempts at taking care of himself on that level were thwarted. After all, she didn't want him to trip and fall in the tub and possibly drown himself. So he wound up taking baths with his brother anyway.

Once the children both turned four and a half, their disagreements had escalated somewhat, enough so that one day, while Eva watched from the door way, Vergil chucked a toy at Dante's head, causing his brother to cry loudly, holding his forehead where the toy had hit him. Eva watched Vergil after that, knowing her younger son was fine, just shell shocked, and she watched Vergil just sitting on the floor, staring at Dante after he'd hurt him. He didn't offer to help him, and didn't continue to fight him, simply sat there and watched him.

A few days later, Eva had spied Vergil turning around and catching Dante before he could trip over another one of his misplaced toys, and when Dante couldn't reach something on the counter sometimes, Vergil would help him get to it. Eva somehow got the feeling that perhaps, when Vergil had hit his younger brother in the head and made him cry so badly, that maybe he'd realized that he would help himself be able to grow stronger by helping his brother instead of thwarting him and causing the arguing to pull them both down.

But that didn't stop the arguing. It wasn't an immensely large problem that Eva felt she couldn't handle, it was usually easily dispersed, as time went on, seeming to be the kind of arguing that really left no deeper emotional scarring. It amused Eva at some points as well, their arguing as they grew older becoming more of a debate over certain things, and they both seemed to enjoy it somehow, either eventually agreeing to disagree, or just saving it for later when their mother told them to stop.

But that was the very least of her worries.

At around the age of six or seven, things began to happen around the home. Sometimes, one of her sons would wake up screaming, saying they'd had a bad dream, and eventually, they began to be able to do things that other, normal children couldn't do. It scared Dante so badly that he shrugged off his own name. He wanted to fit in, he wanted to be like everyone else. He started calling himself Anthony, or for short, Tony, and wouldn't answer to Dante at all anymore at times.

Vergil, on the other hand, seemed to be much more curious than his younger sibling, asked his mother questions she didn't want to answer, wanted to know things she didn't think he was ready for yet, things that started off about the supernatural and spells, but that eventually turned into devils and power. His curiosities were mild though, seemed to be easily sated, and Eva was immensely relieved for that.

But other children noticed. When demons came to attack them, Eva had to move away completely. The two children found her packing their things one night, urgently moving about. "Dante, Vergil," she spoke when she saw them watching her from the doorway, "Get your things together now. Get your clothes, don't worry about anything else. Just what you need, we have to go."

"Mama," Dante started, stepping forth, "why do we–"

"Don't ask me questions, Dante, just do it! Vergil, you too," she told them both sternly, moving away from the room. She had to get her own things as well, and when she'd commanded them, they knew better than to argue, grabbing their things and packing them up, pulling their suitcases and backpacks out of their rooms, unsure why they were having to do this, unknowing where they were going. They were a bit upset, scared as any child would be, and they watched their mother loading a gun up, something they'd never seen her doing before.

"Mama, where are we going?" Vergil asked.

"Away from here," she said, pulling her own case out, putting the strap over her shoulder. She moved to her two sons quickly and grabbed their hands, making sure they were close to her at all times, "somewhere safe for you," she added.

Dante and Vergil could both tell their mother was upset, and as they reached the door, Eva heard Dante saying, "Don't worry, Mama, we won't let anything happen."

Vergil simply had a stern look on his very young face. Eva tried to calm down a bit, tried to offer them an appreciative smile, knowing if she ever lost either of them her world would become completely empty and lost, and she opened the front door slowly, not having time to waste, but wanting to be cautious. Demons could be there any moment, and she wasn't taking any chances.

As she opened the door though, they all stared. Eva's lips parted, and she whispered, "Oh no."

The entire town before them was burning, the fires lighting the skies, reflecting in their eyes like tiny flickering flames that were much bigger in reality. Eva blinked to snap herself out of it, then she reached for Vergil's hand again, having let go to open the door. "Come on, we're leaving right now. Get in the car."

She rushed them out to the car quickly and opened the trunk, throwing their things and hers into it, then she slammed the backdoor, moving toward the drivers side and gasping when Vergil ran off, seeing him heading to the other side of the car to get into the front seat on the passengers side. She simply didn't want him more than a step away from her, so it had startled her when he'd done that. Seeing her reaction, Dante stared up at her knowing something was truly wrong, and she turned and lifted him into the backseat of the car, strapping him in with the seatbelt, kissing his cheek to reassure him.

Eva climbed into the front seat, and she put the key into the ignition, turning the older model car over, listening to it sputter out. "Oh, come on!" Eva grumbled, turning it again, "Don't do this to me now! Please work!"

"Mama, what's that?" Vergil asked her, staring at the side of the house, pointing.

Eva looked up with a gasp, her blue eyes going wide, and she started trying to turn the engine over again with the key. She kept giving it gas, her eyes glued to the side of the house as she saw a dark, black creature in the shadows moving down the side of the wall, it's body long and lanky, on all fours somewhat like a cat with a very long tail and sharp talons on each finger, but it's face was much more humanistic, and it had glowing golden eyes.

Eva stepped on the gas again, willing the car with all her being to work, locking the door with her free hand, and she suddenly heard the lowly growled name, "Sparda," being drawn out like a dagger through her mind.

The car finally came on just as the demon jumped from the wall. Vergil had looked down and seen the gun sticking out of his mothers belt, and he suddenly grabbed it and aimed it, causing Eva to gasp, moving her hands toward her sons.

The demon flew through the air towards the car, and at the same time, Vergil pulled the trigger, the bullet going through the glass, shattering it outward, then through the demons body, the force of the blast knocking it backward, and the recoil on the gun knocking Vergil's young arms to the side. Eva caught his hands in hers, gasped loudly, cringing, some blood running over the top of the gun and onto her sons hands, _her_ blood, from a shard of glass that had flown at her hand and would have harmed Vergil if she hadn't gotten into the way.

But things got quiet for the moment after that. Vergil's blue eyes went wide as he watched the blood slowly dripping down across the top of the gun, and then over the back of his own hand, finally dripping down onto his leg. Eva took several deep breaths, as did he, and Dante had sat forth in the back seat, looking them both over.

"Mama," Vergil whispered, finally turning his face to hers. "That was a demon, wasn't it?"

"Shut up, Vergil!" Dante yelled and threw himself into the backseat again, covering his ears.

Eva closed her eyes, prying the gun from her sons fingertips, putting it back into her belt on the opposite side this time, then she started working on pulling the glass from her palm, cringing the entire time, tears filling her eyes. "Don't worry about it, sweetie, let's just go for now." She grabbed the transmission and put the car into gear, then backed up relentlessly throughout the driveway, in a rush, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. The car backed all the way up toward the roadside, pulling out in front of the house, and Eva looked into the rearview mirror. She saw the same demon, coming toward their car from behind, and her brows narrowed. She'd known the gunshot wouldn't do much to stop it.

The demon leapt into the air toward their car again, and Eva put her foot on the gas as hard as she could, throwing the gears into reverse. As she did this, the car went beneath the demon quickly, causing the creature to land in front of them, and Eva then put the car into drive, and squealed the tires as she took off again. The car bumped hard, running the demon over, and she didn't stop, just kept going as quickly as possible.

_Dante_, came a demonic voice as all of this happened, and Dante put his hands tighter over his ears, shaking his head, "My name's Anthony! It's not Dante!"

Hearing this, Eva held her tears back, and she sped up even more, knowing she wouldn't be able to help her son truly until she could stop safely, and that _wasn't_ now. Reaching over, she put her unharmed hand behind Vergil's head, then beneath his chin and glanced at him, inspecting him to make sure he was okay, and when she was satisfied, she heard Dante yelling again, "It's Anthony!"

Eva took a deep breath, "Dante," she cringed, "Anthony! It's just us! You're alright, honey, you can open your eyes now."

When the young boy heard the name Anthony, he did what the voice told him he could do and looked up. They'd never call him Anthony, they'd always call him Dante. Only his mother would call him Anthony. That's how he knew it was safe.

As the world came into view again, he looked up and saw his mothers kind eyes looking at him through the rearview mirror. "Everything's okay now, sweety, I'm right here."

Dante reached down for his seatbelt and he pushed himself up, climbed over the seat, and sat between his mother and his brother. He cuddled up against her side and closed his eyes. She reached down and rubbed his back, then glanced at Vergil and saw that he was staring at his hand where she'd bled on him a bit. "Vergil? Are you alright, honey?"

Vergil finally looked at her, and he asked, "Did I...kill something?"

"No," Eva told him honestly, "you didn't. I just got scratched, that's all, here, wipe your hands on my shirt, sweety."

Vergil reached his hand out to do as she said when she held her sleeve covered arm out for him, and he wiped the blood drops off of his leg too. After that, he took his mothers hand when she reached for his and leaned against her arm, between himself and his twin, resting against them both. He realized in that moment that guns were far to dangerous to be controlled, and he decided he didn't like them very much. Things got silent, and soon enough, the two children fell asleep.

Eva didn't stop driving until morning.


	2. Cherry Bomb

_Cherry Bomb_

What an old bitty she was.

The twins were both staring over the edge of the fence toward a nicely kept home that resided near their own. It wasn't right next door, but down the road a good ways, but still, considering no one else lived between them, you might be able to call them neighbors. Either way, the woman who lived there wasn't as nice as her home and yard looked. She was pretty damned mean.

It was a bright day outside, a slight bit cloudy, and birds flew overhead with the breeze as it gusted through the young children's hair. They were both seven years old now, due to be eight in a month or two, and these days, Dante had longer hair that hung around his face where Vergil had begun to style his up in a spiky manner, which didn't bother their mother one bit. It helped her to figure out which was which more often, besides Dante's predilection to wear the color red where Vergil seemed to prefer blue.

"Are you sure," Vergil started, looking at Dante, "that she took it?"

"Yes!" Dante gave his twin a look through narrowed blue eyes that seemed a bit annoyed. "Would you just believe me for once instead of asking all kinds of damn questions?"

"You know, mother would beat you for talking like that." Vergil informed his younger brother pointedly before looking back at the house again.

Dante sighed, rolled his eyes, and made several 'blah' motions with his mouth as if mocking Vergil before he looked back at the house himself, both children hidden fairly well by the bushes surrounding them and the fence. They'd been out there, hidden by the vines and shrubs for a short while now, talking, but it'd taken Dante a while to convince Vergil to come with him, Vergil having argued that he was reading a good story. In fact, it took Dante calling his brother a big geek to get him to go anywhere with him.

"Can we just do what we came to do?" Dante finally asked him.

"What did you want to do again?"

"I wanted to get my dang ball back," Dante told him, knowing Vergil was right and with as much as he respected his mother, he didn't want to completely forsake her and what she wanted, using 'dang' instead of 'damn'.

"Then go to the door and ask her for it."

"GAH!" Dante couldn't help himself and how frustrated he was with his older brother. "I did that already, Vergil! She told me she didn't have it, and she's a liar, I saw her picking it up and taking it into the house. So I knocked on the door, and told her it was my ball and that I wanted it back."

"Did you say you were sorry?" Vergil asked him, looking over at his twin.

"For what?" The look on Dante's face suggested his brother was crazy. "I didn't do anything wrong, and I didn't just tell her to give it now, I asked her for it nicely even though she called us stupid kids when she didn't know I was looking."

"Maybe she doesn't like balls in her yard then." They looked over the gardens of flowers she had growing there after Vergil said that, and Vergil went on, "She probably thinks it killed some of her plants."

Dante scoffed and rolled his eyes upwards. "Then YOU go ask for it, and you'll see! She's just a mean old cow. But I thought maybe, since you're the teacher's pet–"

"Am not."

"–that you might be able to do something better than I did."

The older twin pursed his lips to the side, staring into the yard and at the front of the home in thought. Finally, he sighed out his breath in decision. "Fine," Vergil told him, not backing down from the challenge, pushing himself away from the fence. "I'll get it back from her and prove you wrong."

Vergil took off to the gate at the front of the yard without another word, and Dante just folded his arms as he watched his older brother walking up the path to the front of the house. "Yeah, prove me right. Stupid."

"I heard that."

Dante's eyes rolled again as he mocked his brother on a silly voice, "_I heard that neeeh_," and he just leaned against the fence dejectedly, waiting. He really wanted to see Vergil eat his words now even if it didn't get him his ball back. This woman was about to chew him up and spit him out. And Dante was gonna laugh at him when she did.

Reaching up and knocking on the door, Vergil just waited for it to open so that he could ask her about the missing ball. Finally, the older woman opened the door up, looking down through the screen mesh of the outter storm door at the child. Vergil turned his head up toward her and looked her slightly wrinkled face over, slightly beady eyes, and very rounded curves of skin that came from being a good several pounds overweight.

"Yes?" She asked him, brow raising as she waited for him to say something.

"I'm Vergil, we live down the road there, and my brother lost his ball. I was wondering if we could have it back."

"Oh yes," she said, nodding her head slowly, giving Vergil a bit of hope. "I remember your brother now. I thought you looked familiar. Like I told your brother, I don't want you children playing around outside of my house like that. My plants end up getting ruined, and if one of you gets hurt, I could be responsible for it because it's my yard. I would've called your parents by now, but I can't seem to find their number in the phone book, are you unlisted?"

Vergil had a completely blank look on his face up until the point where she asked if they were unlisted, which he knew the answer to. "Yes," he told her simply. He only remembered though because he'd been looking in the phone book one time for a pizza place number for his mother, and when he saw all the addresses and phone numbers, he'd asked her if they were in there too. She'd told him no, and it was because she didn't want anyone to find them. Even though Vergil was only 7 years old, he figured it was because of all of the moving around they'd had to do which seemed like a pretty good idea to him.

"Why in the world would you do that? So thoughtless." The old woman suddenly broke through his thoughts of the phone book. "Well, like I told that twin of yours, I don't have your ball, and I don't want to see either of you over here playing anymore."

"But I don't–"

"You heard me," she interrupted him as he was about to tell her he never played around there, "now go on," then she turned around and shut the door on him, not letting him get out another word.

Vergil never played around this area, only Dante did, because it was sloped and he had a bike he liked to ride down the hill. No doubt the woman had seen Dante several times passing by the house, and was now going to use the fact that since they were twins she'd seen _both_ of them playing around there, and that just simply wasn't fair. Vergil liked riding down the hill, but not as often as Dante did, and his bike was blue anyway. But she didn't know that. So getting blamed for something simply because he and his brother were identical was completely wrong. Vergil's eyes narrowed at the door. He'd leave for now. But he'd be coming back.

Dante was laughing. As Vergil walked by his brother, he shoved him, causing the still laughing boy to stumble into the grass, calling, "Wait up, wait, wait!" Pushing himself up, Dante moved toward his twin and grabbed his arm, trying to sober up, "What'd she say, dude!?"

"She told us she doesn't want us playing over here anymore. And she said that our mother's thoughtless for not putting our number in the phone book."

Vergil knew the last line would make Dante just as angry as it had Vergil. Dante's laughter immediately stopped and he turned around to face the house in the distance. "I'll show her thoughtless!" He nearly yelled, heading back up the hill to the front gate when Vergil suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Wait Dante!"

Dante stopped and looked at Vergil, asking him simply, "Why should I!? She didn't have any reason to say that about Mom!"

Vergil shook his head at Dante, saying, "I know, but if you do something now, you could get into real trouble with her and then she'll get away with everything. I have a better idea."

"Like what?" Dante seemed impatient, but he was genuinely waiting, knowing Vergil could usually spit out a good plan on two when he wanted to.

"Well," Vergil told him, pulling Dante along behind himself as he started down the sidewalk again, grabbing the bike he'd left near the street that was next to his brothers. "You remember the fireworks mom got last month?"

"Uh huh," Dante replied, pushing his bike up, laying on its' side where Vergil's was sitting on its' kickstand, all the while waiting for this great idea of his.

"Well, I didn't use them all. I still have a couple of cherry bombs left," Vergil informed him whenever he threw his leg over the seat of his ride.

Dante's blue eyes went bright and his teeth showed in the grin he was giving Vergil, who was just smirking back at his younger sibling. "Sweet, Vergil! I didn't think you'd ever do anything cool."

The statement, as Dante mounted his bike and road off, made Vergil roll his eyes, and he briefly considering using one on Dante sometime, but then just pushed the thought out of his head and rode on down the hill behind Dante. Mrs. Applegate, as the name on the mailbox read, wouldn't know what hit her.

* * * * *

"They blew up my mail box!"

The now ruined mailbox which used to read 'Mrs. Applegate', and instead now read 'Mr Apegate' where the holes had formed, landed on the front porch with a loud metal thud. The woman who'd been carrying it crossed her arms over her chest, pointing one hand and finger out before her, "I've called the cops! They'll get it now! I told them not to play around in my yard nicely and they didn't listen!"

Eva sighed slowly for patience in the face of the woman's anger as Dante and Vergil had both heard the commotion and came running to the door, opening it up and moving outside to stand behind their mother and to each of her sides. Mrs. Applegate immediately pointed at them, "Right there! I know they did it!"

"Mrs. Applegate, please keep your voice down. There's no reason to shout." She looked down at Dante and then at Vergil, "Have you two been playing in Mrs. Applegate's yard?"

"No!" Dante looked up at Eva quickly, shaking his head no vigorously, "No way! She has flowers in her yard! It's girlie!"

That made sense considering Dante was as much of a little boy as one could get. She then looked at Vergil, wondering what his excuse for staying out of her yard would be. Vergil just shook his head no though and remained quiet. Eva wasn't surprised at all.

"I see them all the time!" Mrs. Applegate insisted. "Always riding their little red bicycles down the road!"

Eva sighed, "Mrs. Applegate, Vergil has a blue bicycle," she informed her with a hand on Vergil's shoulder, "and I'm sure the road doesn't also belong to you."

With those words, Mrs. Applegate just turned her apparently snooty nose up with a 'hmph' sound, and then said, "Either way, I know they're the ones who planted that cherry bomb in my mail box! They think I took their ball and hid it from them, won't give it back. I told them I didn't have it and asked them to not come near by my yard again, because they could lose it."

"No you didn't," Vergil said flatly, his voice never becoming upset, looking up at his mother, "She said she didn't want us over there because if we got hurt, they could blame her for it, and then she called you thoughtless for not putting our number in the phone book."

"Yeah!" Dante reinforced Vergil's words, yelling a bit more loudly than Vergil had of course, "And I _saw_ you with my own two eyes, you picked the ball up and then said 'Stupid kids, well he won't be getting this back' because you didn't know I was around, and then took it into your house!"

"Dante," Eva told him sternly, "shush." She simply wanted him to stop yelling. But as far as what he was saying went, she'd been listening to every word. And she definitely believed her children over this woman.

"Well it's the truth," he muttered, looking over at Vergil, and then the twins turned their head and looked at Mrs. Applegate again.

The old woman got red in the face, further telling Eva that she was scared now, and didn't want to get caught in some kind of lie. Dante and Vergil both stared at her with narrowed, vibrant blue eyes that looked as if they could bore a hole through a wall, and Mrs. Applegate gasped, "Oh, they look like little devils! You just keep them away from my home! The cops will figure it out. My, they're so misbehaved! It doesn't surprise me that their father isn't around with how bad they are!"

Eva had to bite her tongue over those words to keep from cussing the older woman out in a very bad way in front of her children. Instead of simply going off on her though, she did something entirely different, tightening her grip on her two sons shoulders, silently telling them to remain where they were and to be quiet as she parted her own lips to speak to the woman.

"Now, now, Mrs. Applegate," despite her words being calm, there was a definite bite to her tone, "saying their father left them because they're so misbehaved is as immature as someone saying your husband died just so he could get away from you." Dante had to bite his lips to stop himself from laughing. His mom was freaking awesome! "They may be little devils," Eva went on as if she hadn't just verbally slapped the womans teeth out of her mouth, "but they're _my_ little devils, and they won't be coming back around your yard again." She looked down at the boys, "Will you?"

"No, ma'am."

"Nope."

Both boys shook their heads very compliantly and respectfully to their mother, and Eva just smiled right back at them, then looked at Mrs. Applegate again. "Now you can rest easy knowing that these two seven year olds won't be bothering you anymore. If they _did_ plant a cherry bomb in your mailbox, I'll get to the bottom of it and punish them accordingly myself."

Mrs. Applegate scoffed softly and turned her high strung nose out toward the front of the yard before she started walking to the roadside once again. That's when Dante stopped her. "Mr. Apegate! You forgot your mailbox!"

The woman turned around and gave Dante a glare as he brought it out to her and held it up. "My name is Mrs. Applegate!"

"Well I didn't know," the seven year old replied, holding the mailbox up, hefting it onto its side, "It says Mr Apegate here!"

The woman gave Dante a look as if to say she absolutely could not believe him, especially when he looked back at his mother and told her, "I didn't know what her name was. I just wanted my ball back. I didn't look at the mailbox." Dante knew the lie wouldn't be caught, after all, he was only seven, right?

Eva wanted to snicker whether Dante was telling the truth or not, watching the woman carefully as she took the mailbox from him in a very disdainful fashion and then walked back to the side of the road again to go home and Dante came back to her. Smiling at them both, she told them, "Come on, let's go inside. We've got a lot of talking to do."

"But she's the one who–"

"Inside, Dante," Eva interrupted him, "we'll talk there. Besides, dinner's almost done." Eva opened the door, and she looked at Vergil, "Now I don't remember you using all of your cherry bombs."

"Dante stole them from me," Vergil told his mother as he walked in behind his younger brother.

"I did not, you said I could have them!," came Dante's voice from inside the house.

"But did you use them all?" Vergil asked in return, and Eva blew her blonde bangs out of her face as she shook her head over her boys, going inside with them. It was going to be one of those evenings.


	3. Motherly Love

_Motherly Love_

He snuck through the room quietly, taking the cup he'd left in the living room on the end table by accident and placing it to his lips to sip some of the soda contents inside of it, then turned around to sneak out just as quietly as he'd come in. In the recliner was his mother, wrapped up in a comforter for warmth, sound asleep. Dante watched her as he snuck past her, not wanting her to awaken, and he'd almost made it to the door when he heard his name.

It made him cringe slightly. Stopping and looking back, the nine year old asked, "Yeah? I thought you were asleep."

Eva smiled, and her blue eyes opened, looking over in his direction. "I was dozing a bit. Did you need something?"

"I got it," he held up his cup. "I was thirsty."

"I see. Were you busy?"

"Nope. Do you want me to sit with you for a while?," the little boy asked his mother, watching her smile and nod her head.

"That would be nice, Dante."

Turning around at her words, he went back over to his mother and set the cup onto the table next to the recliner where she'd been resting again, letting her help him up into her lap before she pushed the leg rest out again from folding it under for him.

"You're getting big," she smirked, "it's hard to believe sometimes."

"Why?" Dante asked her, pulling his cup back into his lap once he was settled in Eva's lap.

"Because I remember when you were only this big," she showed him with her hands, "and it just doesn't seem like all that long ago."

Dante looked at her hands, and then back up at her, knowing he was a baby once of course, had seen a few pictures, but he just couldn't fathom the idea of it yet, still being only a kid as he was. Maybe one day though he'd understand a little better. But for now, his attention was more focused on his mother, and why she was sleeping so early in the evening as she'd been. "Mom, are you tired?"

"I'm a little groggy, why? Do I look it?"

"No, but it's like seven o'clock and you're napping."

"Well, sometimes adults needs the extra rest. What about you? Not tired at all?"

"Pfft," he scoffed, "nope."

Watching him sipping his drink again after giving her the completely confident reply, Eva smiled and brushed her fingers through his hair to push it out of his face and eyes. She thought about a lot of things in those few moments, about how he was growing up, how her two sons were bother so different, and when her mind settled on Vergil for a moment, she was reminded of something and asked Dante finally, "Did you do your school work?"

"Yeah," he wrinkled his nose in distaste over the subject, "I just finished. I don't like math, it sucks."

"Well, everyone has to do something they don't like."

"Not Vergil, he likes everything when it comes to school," Dante made a funny face, "and has all good grades."

"You're better at other things though, honey, both of you have different qualities. You're outspoken and Vergil's quiet."

"I'm cool and Vergil's a dork."

Eva chuckled over the insult to his sibling even though she, of course, didn't agree, "Dante, be nice. Vergil just likes to read, that's all. It doesn't make him a dork. It makes him a bookworm."

"Mom, that's a dork," Dante informed her, then sipped from his red glass again, missing his mothers amused smile. He seemed to get a little quiet after that, his thoughts trailing off and onto other things. Eva could only wonder what might've been going through the little boys head as he sat there so quietly for a minute. But her question was soon answered.

"Mom, was our dad quiet like Vergil too?"

Eva considered that question for a moment before she answered. How in the world could she sum up Sparda. He seemed to be both somehow, among many other things. "Well," she started, "sometimes he was. But when he talked, he had a very outward way of getting his points across, like you do."

"Do you miss him?"

Eva nodded her head, "Yes I do, very much, but I have my boys, so I'm happy with that."

"But not as happy as you could be?"

"Oh no," she shook her head, rushing the words out quickly, "very happy, you two are everything to me. I might miss your father, but I'm very happy with what I do still have." She then leaned in kissed his cheek affectionately with a warm smile.

Dante cringed and pushed her away a bit, "Mom! Guh!"

Chucking, Eva let Dante do his boyish thing and react badly to the mushiness. Dante grumbled a bit over the girly affection as he might've called it and then looked at his mother, and he suddenly grinned at her mischievously. Setting his cup down on the table beside of the recliner in which they sat, he leaned up in order to 'bite' at her, being very silly about it, his playful side coming through. Eva started laughing at the ticklish motions against her neck, and she hugged him, then let him sit back down again in her lap again once he was done playfully threatening her.

Dante had started snickering himself as he settled back against her legs, pushing her hands away when she went to try and tickle his belly with a loud snicker. Sighing as he successfully protected himself and sobered up a bit from his laughter, he looked around the room.

This house with the, well, Dante wasn't sure of the number, but to him, it seemed like hundredth in a long line of homes he and his family had to move to while he'd been growing up. He'd come to like this one pretty well, and he turned to look at Eva again. "Mom, will we have to leave this house too? I like this one, it's nice. Except for Mrs. Applegate."

Eva chuckled at his comment toward the snooty neighbor they had a ways down the road, and she thought over his question for a moment. "I didn't want to have to move you two around the way I did at all, Dante, but if things continue to be quiet, then no, we'll stay right here."

"And if they don't?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

Eva gave her youngest son a sympathetic look. She knew he wanted to have a more normal life, and it pained her that she couldn't give it to him, not the way she wanted to anyway. Shaking her head slowly, she finally replied, "Then we'll have to move again." She couldn't lie to him, he was her son, and she rubbed his arm when he looked a little bit dejected over her answer because she knew it was disappointing to him.

"It's because of dad, isn't it?" Dante next asked her.

"Yes," she told the truth again, "because he tried to do the right thing and it made everyone mad. That's what the right thing does, Dante, even though people cheer it on, preach about how badly they want it all the time, whenever it actually happens, they get angry."

"Why?" He asked, giving her a look that said it was dumb. "That's stupid."

"Yes it is," Eva sighed out her breath. "They do it because I think a lot of the time, people don't know what's right to begin with. Everyone has a different version of right and wrong. It's like you and Vergil. You think going outside to play is the right way to have fun. But Vergil thinks staying in his room and reading is. Understand?"

Dante thought about that for a minute. It became perfectly clear to him when she told him her explanation in that way, and he glanced up at her face and nodded. Still though, he seemed confused about something. "Why did he do things then that would make you unhappy like us moving around all of the time then?"

"Well, he didn't do it for those reasons," Eva started, "what he did was long before he met me, and the results just lasted a very long time. He had very good intentions for the three of us though."

Dante looked a little disgruntled. There was a bland expression on his nine year old face, one of his eyes wrinkled shut and his lips pursed to the side. Seeing this, Eva rubbed her fingers through his white hair again and told him, "You'll understand it when you're older Dante, I promise. I wouldn't worry about it too much for now though."

Eva had explained a few things to her children about Sparda, but not everything, because they were too young to understand all of it, even still now. She didn't want to overwhelm them with information about their father, and allow any part of his story to get confused within their minds, because she knew that with the odds so stacked against them still at such a young age, anyone could twist the truth to the two children and turn them against their father, or even her. So she kenw that introducing them slowly to each new thing was their best bet completely.

But Dante broke through her thoughts with his next spoken comment about not worrying over what he didn't understand just yet. "I'm not," he told her, turning so that he could hug her, "I'm happy with you, even if we end up somewhere else."

Eva smiled, kissing the top of the young boy's head and then resting her cheek against it, telling him, "Me too," assuredly. "I know you don't like the mushy things, Dante, but if I didn't have you and Vergil, I'd be very, very sad."

Dante smiled, telling her, "It's okay, you're a girl, and girls do mushy things. I don't mind."

With a snicker, Eva asked him, "Better to have your mom's cooties than some girls cooties on a playground?" She began softly laughing over the thought.

"Yeah!," Dante told her and stuck his head back so he could look at her face, "Elsa was trying to make me hold her hand! She's gross."

Eva started laughing even more. She knew Elsa, a girl who lived in the town and she was the cutest little girl anyone had ever seen, long curly blonde hair, big blue eyes, would more than likely grow up to be a completely beautiful woman, and here Dante was, saying she was gross for wanting him to hold her hand. Somehow, Eva got the strongest feeling that whenever Dante got older, he wasn't going to be able to leave the lady's alone. More than likely the opposite as well. She'd have to board him up in his room to keep the dames off of him.

"Well, she likes you, Dante, so just tell her the truth. Tell her you don't want to, and even if she gets mad, at least you can say you didn't lie to her."

Dante gave his mom a smile, telling her, "Okay, I can do that." This was why he liked talking to his mom. She always put things in a way that he could understand them, and she was really smart anyways. The things she said made a lot of sense, and she was always there for him and his brother. Dante cared a lot for his brother too of course, loved him, but Eva was the one who never failed to be where he needed her. Like she said, Dante didn't typically like mushy things, didn't like kissing, or holding his mom's hand a lot of the time, but when he was alone with her, he didn't mind showing her his affection at all. Just him and her, some time for them to be alone and him to have his mother all to himself. After all, if he let Vergil seeing him hugging her like this, or kissing her, he'd get picked on because of it incessantly.

Talking with Eva was always fun though. She always understood, always cared, and she told him things to do that most adults wouldn't, simply because they all thought it wasn't something a child should know or learn. But Eva thought her children should learn these things so they could defend themselves better, knowing what their lives would probably be like, wanting them to have the best chance possible. Dante, even at his young age, could appreciate that, and always enjoyed the conversations he had with her like this.

Sadly however, he didn't know that it was one of the last conversations he'd ever have with her.


	4. Beginning to End

_Beginning to End_

The room was fairly dark, quiet, and peaceful. Dante and Vergil were both asleep in their beds, the ten year olds resting peacefully. Outside, a storm was passing over the home, and Eva had checked on her children about an hour beforehand, then retired to her own room to try and get some sleep, but she'd felt odd, tense, on edge. It hadn't been a feeling that set in recently either. Despite the calm, quiet evening, something had settled in her mind surrounding the house, the entire atmosphere of things going on that day, and she just couldn't pin point what it was.

The calm and quiet now did nothing to reassure her either. It only made her feel as if this were the possible calm before the storm. She managed to drift however, on and off, in and out of consciousness, silently laying in her room, having odd, random dreams. One of them, as it started, happened to be of Sparda, her childrens father, her love, someone that she missed terribly. She didn't often dream of him, but as the dream went on, she fell more and more into a comfortable sleep.

Down the halls, there seemed to be a chill in the air on the silent winter night. The heat was on, but as if the houses systems had been broken somehow, the chill had set in anyway, drifting down the corridor and across the door to the children's bedroom. Inside, Dante stirred a bit, his face contorting tensely, hearing things in his dreams, things that made no sense.

"_Daaante..._"

The ten year old sat upright quickly with a harsh gasp, his icy eyes wide with a start that came from a young child's dream. Cringing a little over thoughts of said dream, Dante glanced over to see his sleeping brother, apparently unaffected by the sound he'd made when he'd awoken. The little boy drew his eyes down and to the side, away from his twin's bed, taking a deep, slow breath. He knew he should go back to sleep, but somehow the dream had left an aftertaste in his mouth that made him uneasy, and he wanted to go check on his mother, the way she checked on them when she thought they were both asleep.

The image in his mind of her face smiling from the doorway when she realized they were alright put a bit of ease in Dante's heart as he pushed himself up and went to the door, watching his brother turn over, back facing him. Vergil was sound asleep, so Dante opened the door quietly and left the bedroom.

Dante, stepping into the hallway, immediately noticed the chill. As he walked, his steps slowed more and more, the darkened shadows cast on near lightless walls around him moving as he went, and he stopped and looked back the other way with narrowed brows. Had he heard something? Must have been his imagination. Taking another deep breath, Dante moved further down the hall to his mothers room, and he grabbed the doorknob.

Turning it and pulling the door open, he looked inside, saw his mother laying there quietly, snoozing, and he smiled a little, glad to see her, put at ease almost immediately just by her presence alone. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully, and Dante moved into the room quietly, stopping just so he could turn and grab the doorknob again, but he stopped when he heard the sheets shuffling. Looking back at his mother, she'd lifted her head, brows narrowed a bit, blue eyes squinting.

"Dante?"

"Did I wake you up, Mom?"

"No," she shook her head, "I was having a dream," she added in explanation softly, giving her youngest son a smile.

"Me too," Dante replied, "was yours bad?"

"No, it wasn't. It was about your father actually. Oddly enough, he told me to wake up," se smiled as if the thought that she'd woken up because Sparda had told her to in a dream was humorous to her.

"Will you tell me about it?"

"If you want," Eva replied, patting the spot on the bed next to herself. Dante nodded and went to reach for the door handle, but he stopped when he heard something.

"_Daaante..._"

Gasping, Dante turned around swiftly to face his mother again, his breathing picking up and Eva shook her head in response, "What is it, Dante?"

As she spoke, in the darkness behind his mother, Dante saw a pair of red eyes opening, gleaming from the shadows, and he pointed quickly, yelling, "Mom! Look out!"

Eva had seen her son react the way he just had before. Sometimes, before demons attacked them, he would get a little scared, though she hadn't heard or seen anything to tip her off beforehand that danger was lurking about. This telltale sign in Dante had helped her on occasion to protect her family, and though she would much rather not see such a reaction in her son, it helped her this time as well. Instinct kicked in. The moment Dante lifted his arm and pointed, Eva pushed herself off of the bed and toward him, escaping the sharp blade of a swung scythe, stabbing down into the mattress she'd been asleep on just a few moments before.

Eva reached Dante and looked back, seeing the smoking robes of the floating demon emerging from the shadows he'd hidden in near the corner of the room, somehow seeming to move through the wall itself, its face veiled in darkness, only those same bloodthirsty red eyes peering down at the two of them from its shadowy hood. Eva clutched Dante's shoulders and pulled him back to the door, wanting to be careful as she knew more demons could be anywhere, the dark creatures having found her family again somehow, and both mother and son heard the next word drawn out sharply in their minds.

"_Spaaaardaaa..._"

The demonic beast reared back, giving Eva no time to worry about what might be in the hallway, and she pushed Dante through the door as he gripped her hand tightly. As soon as she did, the demon flew in quickly for a slash attack, swinging the scythe it wielded about with a deadly precision, tearing the door which had just swung toward it from it fleeing humans in half.

As the shards from the door flew, the back of Eva's ankle was hit, causing her to stumble forward, onto her hands and knees. Dante stopped and grabbed her as she worked her way up, trying to help her along as much as he could. But Eva quickly shook her head, "No, don't worry about me, Dante, go get your brother!"

But the demon wasn't so easily put off by a simple door, right behind Eva now as she moved with her son, only feeling a slight pain in her ankle from the scratch now cut into it, and as the demon behind her shrieked, Eva's motherly instincts kicked in as she shouted Vergil's name, trying to rouse him from any sleep he might've entered before something horrible could happen to him. But her heart stopped when she heard the unmistakable sound of her oldest son's shout of fear and confusion followed by the shattering of glass coming from his bedroom.

"**Vergil!**," she screamed his name, "I'm coming!"

Eva's shout was cut short when the Reaper suddenly rammed itself through her and Dante both, knocking Dante away from his mother, both of them falling onto the floor as their bodies were slammed into and wracked with unnatural pain. Cringing from the fall, Dante looked back to see his mother trembling a bit, pushing herself up slowly.

"Mom!"

"Dante, hide!" She yelled the words to him on a stern voice, "Go, now!" She was terrified for Vergil, and knowing that Dante could have easily been next, she had to tell him to run. "I'll get Vergil, just run!"

Eva was getting back to her feet as quickly as possible, ignoring the pain she'd just experienced, watching her son do the same. Behind him, she could see yet another demon heading down the hallway, this one more catlike on all fours with sharp talons lining each finger, pasty white skin, and a leering grin of fangs in its mouth, malevolence in its golden eyes.

Eva knew more were coming.

Dante was about to run to his mother instead of hiding, no matter what she'd told him, when a blade was swung down at him by the Reaper who'd temporarily disappeared through the walls, pushing the little boy over again as he tried to escape the attack. Amidst all of the chaos and confusion, Dante scrambled to get away on his hands and knees, only seeing the demonic cat before him as he pushed himself forward, and would have been cleaved in two by its talons if his mother hadn't intervened.

Eva found a fury within her that very few things could awaken when Dante had nearly been cut down just then, throwing herself at the catlike demon without fear who would try to harm her little boy, beating upon it's body fruitlessly though angrily with her fists. Her intervention managed to allow her son to escape for the moment as she screamed out, "Leave him alone!!"

Dante heard another crash behind him resonating from an unknown origin, gasping as he finally heeded his mothers wishes to hide, running down the hallway and then the stairs, heading to the coat closet. Opening the slitted door, he shoved himself inside of it, and pulled it shut. As he entered the dark space, he turned and looked back through the slits, trying to see, but only able to witness the shadows from upstairs of what movement was taking place there.

"Vergil!," he could hear his mothers cry, followed by heavy footsteps. A moment later, he heard a yell of pain from the woman he called his mother as she came falling down the stairs, landing on her back with a hard thud. The ten year old watched Eva pushing herself back up slowly, only to be pounced upon by the same snarling, catlike demon that he'd seen just a short time before. Dante was frozen in place with fear for a moment, but soon found his mobility as he reached for the doorknob to throw it open and help his mother in the same way she'd helped him.

But her suddenly cried words stopped him in his place, "Dante! Run!...Don't look back!"

Those words stopped abruptly when the Reaper who'd initially attacked them tore through the floor, his blade slicing through Eva's body as if a hot knife through butter, tearing away her words, her breath, but most importantly, her life, in the blink of an eye. Dante was still frozen in place, his icy pupils dilating wide, the only sound following his mother's cries that of his trembling breathing.

Silence. Long and harsh.

"M-mo-om...?"

His voice was barely audible even to his own ears.

"Mom," he said again, his voice a bit higher, "Vergil?"

Nothing.

The shrieks and wails of the demons still hunting uttered Dante's father's name in his mind, not once, or even twice, but again and again. Dante shut his ears as tears streamed down his cheeks, trying to block the name out, but he couldn't stop himself from hearing it, from hearing his own name, curling up into a ball on the closet floor. With each utterance, Dante came to hate the name Sparda even more, never cared to hear it again, didn't want to be Sparda's son, didn't want to have a father, the chaos of the demons hatred filling his mind, making him completely dizzy. All he wanted in that moment was his mother, to hug her tight and run away with her, even his brother, still uncertain of Vergil's fate.

But that absolution never came.

Tears stained the unconscious boys cheeks as the chaos that consumed his mind drove on, his teeth bared tightly, until he'd passed out completely in the closet. It was still dark however when his blue eyes next opened, seeing the door before him, closed, afraid to move from where he was. But even though his uncertainty consumed him, he found his hand opening the door, as if it weren't his own hand, as if his actions weren't his own. Reaching up, applying some pressure to make the object budge, the little boy watched it slowly swinging to, unveiling the room before him with an eery creak of metal from the hinges.

Before him, on the floor, was an empty pool of blood. His eyes scanned the room, but nothing was about. Taking several deep breaths, he somehow made his legs work, somehow made himself step toward the pool of blood, somehow made himself stop. Nothing was certain in those moments, not life nor death, up nor down. He didn't know how he walked, how he breathed, he couldn't explain anything, nothing at all, but the empty ache left in his heart.

"Mom," he whispered, his voice hoarse, looking up the stairs to find her, gasping suddenly when he heard a loud wind and the front door swinging open. It was snowing outside, but nothing was there at the door, swinging like a puppet on a string controlled by the gusting breeze.

Slowly, the white haired ten year old moved to the front door, didn't have to open it, only pushed against the screen, and then stepped outside onto the front porch. In his mind, he could see his mother being attacked again and again, but maybe, just maybe she was outside, looking for him.

"Mom," his cracked voice rasped out once more as tears started to fill his blue eyes, the dread in his heart that he was simply diluting himself on the whereabouts of his mother being other than dead filling his entire heart and body with a weight heavier than led.

"Mom...mom!" he whispered urgently, gasping in his breath, ".......mama...!?"

He found himself at the front porch steps, collapsing down onto his backside, his hands hitting the surface of the porch, adding in question as he began to sob, "Vergil!?"

Folding his arms over the tops of his knees, Dante buried his face in them, shaking as he cried while the cold breeze blew over him, snowflakes landing in his hair, camouflaged by the white color. The howling wind sounded just as empty and alone as he was now, confused, hurt, and scared. Maybe they were both looking for him. Maybe they didn't know he'd gone to the closet to hide. Maybe the snow had covered up their footprints since he'd passed out. Maybe...

A whimper made the nine year old gasp and look up, his eyes full of partial fear and hope, hoping the sound was his family, hoping the sound wasn't another monster. But it was neither. Instead, before him, Dante saw something he hadn't ever seen before, something he was quite unsure of, but that somehow didn't seem to be so frightening as every single thing else surrounding him in that moment.

It was a silvery grey wolf with golden eyes standing in the snow. He was padding from side to side, his face turned toward the boy sitting on the front porch of the home. As if it were pacing, it would stop after walking so far, and then turn back the other way, making soft whimpers until Dante had looked at it. The wolf then came to a stop and tilted its head to the side, bobbing it back and forth.

Dante could see the steam of his breath as he took it in and out of his lungs somewhat swiftly, watching as the animal lowered its head toward the ground, slowly and carefully padding toward him. Once the animal was about five feet away, Dante let his blue eyes look back behind the animal, looking for anything else that might be about, and he then glanced back down.

"W...wolf?" He asked as he slowly pushed himself up, seeing that the wolf didn't move when he did so, only sat back on its haunches and then lifted a paw. Moving in warily towards the creature, Dante reached out a timid hand to the animal's nose. Once within reach, the wolf whimpered and nuzzled his palm, then licked it.

This animal was the only comfort he had in these few moments, the only thing he could cling to in his world of despair. Dante wasted no time, seeing that the otherwise dangerous animal was friendly, and he put his arms around it, hugging it tightly. The ten year old couldn't help his reactions, trembling and cold, an uncertain path laying ahead of him.

A short time later, both of the figures were gone, the front gate of the fence surrounding the home flapping a bit from being opened and swinging shut, a new life beginning.


End file.
